Lady Spartans Take Title

It’s about doing all of the little things right.

Audrey Craffey drained 14 points and was named MVP as Williamsville North beat Kenmore West, 56-32, in the championship game of the Lady Blue Devils Holiday Classic on Friday.

Thursday’s opening round action saw the Lady Spartans top Mount Mercy, 43-38, in a game where neither team could find it’s groove.

That wasn’t the case for Will-North in the title game as they were a much more cohesive unit.

“After the game (Thursday) coach (Bill Shaw) was proud of us for winning but at the end of the day we didn’t play our best,” Craffey said.”So we knew today that Ken-West was a better team than Mount Mercy and we knew we had to be better than we were (Thursday) or else we weren’t going to win today.”

Ken-West’s Mariah Huss hit a basket early in the second quarter to tie the game at 11-11.

The Spartans promptly went on a 13-2 run for a 24-13 halftime lead that kept the Lady Blue Devils on their heels the rest of the night.

A total of nine Lady Spartans hit the scorebook, including Jada Ghee who had a team-best 15 points and was named to the all-tourney team.

But at the end of the day, Will-North coach Bill Shaw said the difference maker was doing all of the little things right. Will-North, led by Courtney Herlan’s eight rebounds,  won the battle on the boards. Ghee and Craffey with six steals each set the tone for an aggressive 2-3 zone defense that didn’t give the Blue Devils room to create scoring chances.

“They know what I say to them all the time,” Shaw said. “Little things win games. Not the big picture. It’s the little things. You do the little things right and the big picture will take care of itself.”

The Lady Blue Devils earned their trip to the title game by knocking off rival Ken-East 50-33. Thanks in part to the speedy backcourt duo of Huss and Laura Cohn.

But the Blue Devils were missing that spark as Cohn was unable to play due to a family mission trip to Haiti.

While playing with a short bench made it tough for West head coach Jeff Martin. It came down to the simple fact Will-North out-hustled them and made shots when they had to.

“I give all the credit in the world to Williamsville North,” Martin said. “They shot the ball well. They defended. They hustled. They had a lot of energy and they had more intensity than we did.”

Ashley Tucker  (10th) and Mariah Huss (eighth) were Ken-West’s selections for all-tournament.

It was a sweep for Will-North as they also won the JV tournament.

Third Place:

Mercy 61 Ken-East 26

More than just looking to rebound from opening round losses, both teams were hoping to get back on track after poor efforts.

The Magic accomplished their goal as Josslynn Strange (10 points) and Angelina Pacholczak (11) led the way as they cruised to victory over the Bulldogs.

“We were much more connected today,” Mercy coach John Glose said. “Thursday we were playing like individuals. We weren’t playing with any heart or determination. We weren’t communicating good enough. Today all those things we did really, really well. We’re a team where those intangibles are huge to us. We have to out-work teams to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Strange was named to the all-tourney team, as was Carianne McCarthy of Ken-East.